Wake could put enrollment caps on 21 schools in 2020. See who’s on the list.
More than 20 Wake County schools, mostly elementary schools, could be placed under enrollment limits in the fall that would prevent newly arriving families from attending them.
Wake County school administrators recommended Wednesday putting enrollment caps on 21 crowded schools for the 2020-21 school year. School officials say the state’s ongoing efforts to reduce K-3 class sizes means they’re losing seats at some schools in high-growth areas.
Enrollment caps are a way for the school system to try to shift the burden of dealing with overcrowded families onto newcomers instead of reassigning existing students out of schools. When a capped school reaches an enrollment limit, families who weren’t living in the attendance area by a certain date are bused to a more distant school that has space.
But school leaders complained Wednesday that enrollment caps cost the district financially because it has to run bus service for the more than 700 students who already are capped out at schools this school year. It could cost $200,000 to run five more school buses to handle the new students who’d be capped this fall.
School leaders also acknowledged the impact capping will have on students, who could face bus rides of an hour each way in the morning and in the afternoon.
“It will be a long bus ride for those kids on the buses,” said David Neter, Wake’s chief operating officer.
State class size limits
Wake has to deal with how the average K-3 class size in North Carolina will drop from 19 students this school year to 18 students this fall. It’s scheduled to drop in 2021 to a maximum of 16 to 18 students in a class, depending on the grade level.
Republican state lawmakers say the smaller K-3 class sizes will help improve academic performance. But school districts complain that it will be difficult finding the teachers and the classroom space to meet the smaller class sizes.
The district also has to deal with how growth has picked up after slowing last school year. Wake added 1,436 new students this year, reaching 161,907 students across the district.
Administrators want to place new enrollment caps on five elementary schools: Abbotts Creek, Alston Ridge, Beaverdam, Lead Mine and White Oak. The cap at White Oak would only cover kindergarten and first grade.
Administrators want to continue caps at 13 elementary schools; Cedar Fork, Combs, Harris Creek, Highcroft, Holly Grove, Hortons Creek, Mills Park, Oakview, Olive Chapel, Rogers Lane, Scotts Ridge, Sycamore Creek and Weatherstone.
Administrators also want to continue the caps at Mills Park Middle School and Heritage and Panther Creek high schools.
After board members raised concerns, administrators said they’d reconsider keeping the cap at Panther Creek and Harris Creek. The school board could approve the enrollment caps on Tuesday.
School officials recommend dropping the caps at Baileywick, Fuquay-Varina, Vance, Willow Springs and Yates Mill elementary schools. The opening of South Lake Elementary in Fuquay-Varina in August is allowing several schools to lose their cap.
“We built that school for a reason,” said school board member Christine Kushner.
This story was originally published January 15, 2020 at 6:30 PM with the headline "Wake could put enrollment caps on 21 schools in 2020. See who’s on the list.."
